Wind Blows Sand
by UnderdogFan1254
Summary: "...and the Code of the Clans." / Tiny Gust thinks about the father of her kits often. Even more often she remembers the strange Nofur words he would use. After her kits act up one night, Tiny Gust decides to make up a story or two…
1. Prologue - Warrior

Merlinkit had gotten into a bit of trouble recently. He was very upset, his dark tabby fur sticking out from under Tiny Gust's tail. Tiny Gust would've pretended it was a game of hide-and-seek if not for Merlinkit's whimpers. His sounds were making his sister, Fernkit, very upset.

He had broken the Warrior Code. Kits weren't allowed to leave camp until they were five moons old, and even then, they must have an escort. Her kits were only three moons. Fox Mask, IvyClan's deputy, had snapped at Merlinkit. Tiny Gust didn't know what had made Fox Mask so irritable lately, it truly wasn't in his nature at all, but Tiny Gust snapped right back. Dawn Flower moved with Moonkit and Snakekit into the apprentice's den that night as to not upset Merlinkit any more.

Fernkit scuffled her paws and bundled a bit of moss under her feet. "Why do we have to follow the warrior code anyway," she wondered rather angrily, "I don't even _know _it!"

Tiny Gust had realized that, yes. _She_ knew the code, her mother was the cat who got the ball rolling on it. No one had taught _her_ kits the code, however. Tiny Gust lifted her tail off Merlinkit and waved it in the air, ushering her kits closer. Merlinkit leaped to his paws and dove into his mother's belly. Fernkit followed a bit more slowly and took her place closer to Tiny Gust's shoulder.

"Listen now, my tulips," Tiny Gust mewed softly. Merlinkit looked up from his place deep in Tiny Gust's belly fur. His big teal eyes were still watery. "_I _will teach you the warrior code, for your bedtime story every night. Okay?"

Fernkit sat up and beamed. Surprisingly, Merlinkit also sat up and wiped an eye with his paw. Tiny Gust let out a _mrew _of contentment.

"Now, code one…"


	2. C - 1

_1\. Defend your clan, even with your life. You may have friends, mates or kin in other clans, but your loyalty must lie with your own, for one day you might meet them in battle._

* * *

DuskClan was stealing NoonClan's prey. There was no doubt about it. The scent of char and dry cricket was found in trees deeper than the ones around the border. The scent wasn't in a line, though, it was sporadic. DuskClan certainly wasn't changing the border. NoonClan was ready to go to war over the clan's theft, but DuskClan was just as ready to go to war over the allegations.

Mossyleaf, a tom who'd once trained as a medicine cat apprentice and had never quite unlearned the semblance of peace they held, wasn't too sure about the upcoming war. He had many friends in DuskClan, and NoonClan had a reputation of being swift, petty and devastating in battle.

Not to mention that, when Mossyleaf was still training in medicine, his brother had left NoonClan for DuskClan. He didn't want his sibling to not return on the battle patrol, not when he had an expectant mate.

"Why the long face?"

The voice made Mossyleaf jump. Looking over his shoulder, he spotted the source: his very own mate, Lightningcry. The blue tabby sighed and tapped his tail against the ground. Lightningcry hopped over and ran her dark head under her taller mate's chin as he started to speak.

"I'm not so sure about this, Lights."

Lightningcry backed up and looked a bit angry, her yellow eyes ablaze in the fury she was named after. "What? Why? We _know _DuskClan's stealing our prey, Mossyleaf, we're _right."_

Mossyleaf didn't respond, instead looked to his paws as his eyes filled with water. He didn't _want _to fight this war, but Noonstar had ordered him on the patrol and he knew better than to question his leader's choices. Lightningcry sighed and pushed her head back under Mossyleaf's chin.

"I just…" Mossyleaf said as he curled his tail around the dark molly, "I don't want Starlingfur… or Peachbush to…"

"You don't want Cricketdust to get killed," Lightningcry interrupted. Mossyleaf cringed a bit at the mention of his brother. That was all the proof Lightningcry needed to say she was right. "No one will get killed, Mossy. Noonstar's my mom, and she's decreed several times over that any cat who kills will be exiled on the spot."

"Yeah…" Mossyleaf whispered, lazily letting his eyes drift over the NoonClan deputy, Juniperfang. No cat liked Juniperfang very much, he had a habit of torturing prey before he killed it, and half the time it wasn't hardly fit to eat. But Juniperfang had become a warrior two moons before Lightningcry, and because Noonstar was his mother, no well-minded NoonClan warrior wanted to question her choice.

Surely Juniperfang wouldn't go against his mother's morals, right?

(...)

Mossyleaf still wasn't very sure about this battle. He and his clanmates hid in the bushes beside the border. Lightningcry crouched on one side of him, wiggling her dark haunches in the air, ready to leap at any moment. Juniperfang sat at his other side, eerily silent. Noonstar sat at the far end of the line, too far away to see what her deputy was doing if he decided to kill.

It wasn't very long until DuskClan met them. Six cats, just like NoonClan's patrol. But, unfortunately, there stood Starlingfur, Peachbush and… _Cricketdust._

_Oh, brother, _Mossyleaf thought to himself as he readied his haunches to leap, _Why couldn't you stay in your camp with Sweetpool?_

As NoonClan leaped from the bushes, Mossyleaf purposely shifted his weight toward the side, skidding against the grass around Peachbush. Now, Mossyleaf _wasn't _a good warrior, and it didn't look like he had sabotaged the leap at all. When the tom managed to open his eyes again, he saw Juniperfang and Cricketdust.

The black NoonClan tom was holding Cricketdust by the throat and shaking him around as if he was a bit of moss with a pebble hidden within. Mossyleaf felt a knot in his stomach turn as Juniperfang threw Cricketdust away. Mossyleaf caught a glimpse of his brother's copper eyes, which were dull and cloudy.

Suddenly Mossyleaf's jaws were parted in an involuntary yowl, and he soon found himself flying through the air again. Except this time, he crashed into Juniperfang's chest, knocking him backwards onto the ground. The deputy quickly gained his bearings and spoke.

"_Mossyleaf?!"_ exclaimed the black-furred tom, "What are you _doing?!"_

Mossyleaf panted but couldn't respond. Looking over his shoulder, his dark blue brother blinked up, surprised and startled. Cricketdust quickly nodded at Mossyleaf and hopped to his feet, pummelling his paws against Eagleflash's dark pelt. Juniperfang's eyes widened in disbelief.

"_Traitor!"_ he exclaimed, kicking Mossyleaf's stomach and easily overturning him. Mossyleaf gasped and uselessly fuddled his paws against Juniperfang's face. The deputy, however, was not deterred. Juniperfang soon dug his namesake deep into Mossyleaf's throat, pressing his hind paw harder down on the blue tom's stomach. Mossyleaf gasped and tried, futilely, to get Juniperfang off of him.

The edges of Mossyleaf's vision was darkening and, soon enough, he couldn't move his legs at all. Juniperfang's jaws were red, but not with the blood of a DuskClan warrior. Juniperfang might've just killed a clanmate, but he still acted his respect. He pressed his nose into Mossyleaf's white chest and rolled him over. Gripping his scruff between his teeth, Juniperfang dragged Mossyleaf's body under a NoonClan bush.

Just as the deputy turned back into the battle, dark blue-gray paws launched toward his throat. Cricketdust's claws tore though Juniperfang's neck, and quickly, Mossyleaf's body wasn't the only one under the bush.

(...)

Lightningcry was very round by the time the next Gathering had come. If Mossyleaf had known, one moon ago, in the same battle he died in, that his mate was pregnant, he never would've let Lightningcry fight. But the past was the past and, as sad as a thought as it was, Lightningcry was rather glad Mossyleaf had been the one killed rather than her and their little lives.

Eagleflash, the new deputy since Juniperfang's death, was helping Lightningcry along the shallow waters to the Gathering island. The dark tabby queen took a place beside Daisyhaze, a DawnClan queen, and waited for the Gathering to begin.

It wasn't much different. The DawnClan leader, Dawnstar, reported on well-running prey and a new apprentice. Noonstar and Duskstar reported on the war, of course, and any casualties on either side. Lightningcry felt a rage rise inside her with every word the two leaders bickered about. Suddenly, from her place in the center of the island, she rose to her paws.

"I propose an organized Warrior Code!"

It wasn't long until all eyes turned to Lightningcry. She lashed her stubby tail and ignored the side eyes.

The Warrior Code, up until that point, had been a loose set of morals that changed from clan to clan. Sometimes it changed depending on the leader, but overall, it came to the cat. Mossyfoot's morals lied with his kin. Juniperfang's lied with his clan. Noonstar turned cold yellow eyes toward her daughter as whispers arose, but Lightningcry continued to stand her ground.

Dawnstar pricked her ears, however. "Yes, Lightningcry?"

"The Warrior Code needs to be defined," the queen announced, "Everycat's views alter, and if their views don't align, then murders like Mossyfoot's happen!" Lightningcry found herself growling the last part. Daisyhaze pricked her ears, clearly intrigued.

Noonstar stepped up on the willow branch, leaning forward. "We can't control everycat's views, Lightningcry, that's evil!"

"And murder isn't?" Lightningcry snapped back, her mother unable to respond.

"We don't have to control everycat's mind, _Noonstar," _Duskstar snarled, "Perhaps having a set of morals will help our clans. We can always dissolve it if it doesn't work, can't we?" He didn't give Noonstar time to respond before turning his gaze back to Lightningcry. "Suggestion?"

Lightningcry glanced over to the rounder molly beside her. Daisyhaze smiled and tapped her cream tail against the ground, encouraging her to go on. Lightningcry took a deep breath in and out before speaking again.

"Defend your clan, even with your life," she mewed, "You may have friends, mates or kin in other clans, but your loyalty must lie with your own, for one day you might meet them in battle."

Daisyhaze stiffened a bit, and Lightningcry was sure it was because of how Mossyfoot died. She was in a strange place- on one paw, Mossyfoot was her mate who died defending his kin, albeit, in another clan. On the other, Juniperfang was her brother who'd died defending her clan.

Duskstar seemed a bit surprised too, but turned to his fellow leaders. He glanced over Noonstar and Dawnstar before extending his paw out over the branch.

"All in favor?" he asked. Dawnstar met his paw, but Noonstar did not. Duskstar nodded and set his foot back down. "It's settled then," he mewed.

And it was.


End file.
